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Geminids, Year’s Best Meteor Shower, Peaks This Weekend
Geminids, Year’s Best Meteor Shower, Peaks This Weekend
Sep 21, 2024 3:16 AM

Tomorrow night and Sunday, you’ll want to brave the cold to witness the best meteor shower of the year, the Geminids. You don’t even need to be a night owl to see these shooting stars: Best views happen sometime between 10 p.m. and midnight — plenty of time for some star-gazing and a good night’s sleep.

The Geminids have a pretty cool backstory. They’re said to come from an extinct comet called 3200 Phaethon, or as NASA’s Meteoroid Environment Office puts it, “the rocky skeleton of a comet that lost its ice after too many close encounters with the sun. Earth runs into a stream of debris from 3200 Phaethon every year in mid-December, causing meteors to fly from the constellation Gemini.”

Hence the name Geminids.

Last year, the December full moon — the Long Night Moon — happened on the 17th, right around when the Geminids were at their best. Though the meteor shower started on the 7th, its peak (also Dec. 13) got blocked by the shining reflection of the almost full moon. “Bright moonlight,” we reported last December, “will flood the sky through much of that night, playing havoc with any serious attempts to observe the usually spectacular meteor shower.”

No such troubles this year. The Long Night Moon already passed, on Dec. 6. And according to weather.com meteorologist Linda Lam, the weather in most places shouldn’t be much of a problem either. “Clouds may obscure the viewing of the Geminid meteor shower this weekend in the Midwest, Plains and the intermountain West,” she said. “The immediate West Coast will have better viewing weather Saturday night into Sunday morning as clouds will decrease. The South and much of the East Coast, however, will see mainly clear skies.”

NASA’s getting into the star-studded spirit, hosting an overnight chat with astronomers from Marshall Space Flight Center starting Saturday, Dec. 13 at 10 p.m. and going until 2 a.m. on Sunday morning. Finally, here are some Geminids viewing tips from the space agency: “Find an area well away from city or street lights. Come prepared with a sleeping bag, blanket or lawn chair. Lie flat on your back with your feet facing south and look up, taking in as much of the sky as possible. After about 30 minutes in the dark, your eyes will adapt and you will begin to see meteors. Be patient — the show will last until dawn, so you have plenty of time to catch a glimpse.”

MORE FROM WEATHER.COM: Stunning Images of the Blood Moon

Total eclipse of the moon underway over southern California as seen from Korea town ,west of downtown Los Angeles, early on April 15, 2014. (Desiree Martin/AFP/Getty Images)

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